Former Harper adviser blasts Keystone XL support

3 December 2013

Economist Marc Jaccard calls Canada a ‘rogue state’ for its pipeline support
The Canadian Press

A former Harper government appointee used a keynote speech at a Washington event on Monday to trample Canadian authorities’ message on oil pipelines while describing the country as an environmental “rogue state.”

Mark Jaccard was one of the first people nominated by the Conservatives to the environmental file, when he was named in 2006 to the federal government’s now-defunct National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.

The environmental economist delivered a lengthy rebuke of Canada’s climate-change performance at the event near the White House, as the Obama administration continued to grapple with whether to approve the Alberta-U.S. pipeline.

Jaccard, an adviser to different governments and a professor at Simon Fraser University, said he doesn’t want the oilsands shut down — he just doesn’t want them to grow.

That message stands in sharp contrast to that of the Canadian government, which has spent millions to publicize the benefits of oil development through different means such as posters in the Washington, D.C., subway system.

“On climate, Canada is a rogue state,” Jaccard said.

“It’s accelerating the global tragedy … The U.S. government should reject Keystone XL and explain to the Canadian government that it hopes to join with Canada (on a global climate plan).”